Extreme Decluttering

 A few months back, I did the 30 day Declutter Challenge, where you let go of 1 thing on Day 1, 2 things on Day 2, 3 things on Day 3, etc, etc... and 31 things on Day 31. It adds up to a grand total of 465 things, which is pretty good for a month. At least I think so. I know, from experience, that the first 15 days were easy-peasy... the last 15 days... not so much.

But there are even more extreme declutterers out there. Did you hear about the Danish mom who decluttered 1000 things? Yep, her family now has one plate, one mug and one set of cutlery per person. If guests come over, they have to eat off of paper plates. The eco-warrior in me shudders at the thought of all of those paper plates being tossed away. But maybe she doesn't entertain that often?? We can only hope.

A dreamy minimalist office (where do they keep all their papers???)

Then there's the Canadian mom who got rid of 3500 things, including her children's toys!! They too only have 1 plate, mug, etc per person. More paper plates I guess. Or maybe a BYOPC (Bring Your Own Plate & Cutlery) for guests? Wondering too if maybe these news stories are paid for by the PPP (paper plate people)

Bedroom? Office? Is this our reality? Or just a teenager's reality?

 I thought the 30 day challenge was pretty extreme, but apparently not. Have you heard of the envelope decluttering system? You put 90 slips of paper in an envelope. Written on the slips are the numbers 1 to 30 and 1 to 20 (one number on each slip). The 1 to 20 slips are repeated 3 times. This gives you a grand total of 1095 items. Then you take a slip of paper out of the envelope and declutter that many items. So some days, it could be 1 or 2 or 4 and others could be 25 or 30. It's kind of like the 30 day minimalism challenge... just sort of repeated a few times and spread over a year.

And then there's just the plain version of decluttering 1000 items in year. Do it however you want... 2-3 items a day or 83-84 per month or 250 per quarter.

Now you'd think getting rid of 1000 items in a year would make a big difference. At least it seemed to make a difference for the Danish mom. But then... the Europeans tend to have less total possessions than us North Americans. Remember the Belgian photographer who took a pic of every single item in her home? Just shy of 13,000 items. Declutter 1000 of those items and you've gotten rid of almost 8% of your possessions. Explains why the Europeans are getting rid of extra plates; their possessions are pretty tight as it is!

But for a North American... with an average of 300,000 items... well... 1000 items is 0.3% of the total. A drop in the bucket. To match the Europeans, we'd have to declutter something like 24,000 items to even get close to 8% of our total! We're in no danger of decluttering our extra plates...

Soooo... 1000 items in a year should be easy peasy, right? Do I hear a challenge brewing? I can also imagine my partner's eyebrows raised in disbelief. "Another challenge!!??" Maybe... Starting October 1? Hmmm... maybe...

What I Let Go of During the Last Three Days of the Minimalism Game

Right then. The last 3 days of the 30 Day Minimalism Challenge!!

If you've been following along, you can find my earlier blog posts here:

• Week 0 - Playing the 30 Day Minimalism Game
• Week 1 - What I let go of...
• Week 2 - What I let go of...
• Week 3 - What I let go of...
• Week 4 - What I let go of...

This post got a bit delayed because I came down with a nasty sinus cold and just conked out for 10 days but... it is done! I had to dive into the shed and the tool closet to find the 28, 29 and 30 things to declutter. This was brutally hard, these last few days but... it 's done!

Day 28

2 fabric planters - one of which was chewed to pieces by rats, so is not pictured

1 wand watering thing we have never used...

1 very old, very sad patio umbrella (broken)

2 broken saw horses

1 broken plastic container

4 thrashed gloves

1 bag of dead scrubbies

1 bundle of rusted wire

1 rope ladder

1 old goblet

1 broken faucet protector

2 - hammer head and ax head

2 old gloves (found the other one after this pic taken)

1 yogurt container

1 boating emergency kit

2 balls

1 broken compost bucket

1 kite

1 old patio cushion

1 thrashed entrance mat

Day 29

These last 2 days were super hard but... with the help of the tool closet... I got there...

2 broken zero-gravity chairs

3 packages electrical and light switch weather-proofing bits

3 baggies with screw cap thingies

3 bits of bike helmet padding and clips

3 sets of closet door bits

5 thingies - bag with string, handle with string, package of wires, package of small bungy cords, 1 loose bungy cord

5 thingies - bag with closet feet bits, bag with electrical plug, package light socket thingie, baggie with curtain rod bits, baggie with piece of drywall for paint comparison

5 thingies - pile of rando bits, pile of wooden bits, some window track locks, baggie with drywall plugs, baggie with old doorbell

And that's 29!

Day 30

More things from the tool closet!

3 yellowy outlet covers

2 sets pegboard holders

5 thingies - cover, package drywall plugs, baggie curtain bits, package with hinge, over the door hook

5 thingies - weird electrical extender, old faucet cap, envelope with felt protectors that are no longer sticky, water-saving shower head, saw hole kit

5 electrical covers

5 thingies - 3 dead rags, 1 package cabinet screws, 1 package with 2 GFCA outlets

1 wall mirror

1 roll of various poster sheets

1 picture

1 bulletin board (not pictured - already in car)

1 outdoor solar light (broken - in garbage already)

CONCLUSION

Well, this has been very interesting. The first 2 weeks, into week 3 were very doable. But the final week, particularly the final 3 days were brutal! But... we did get rid of a lot of stuff. The shed and tool closet were very fruitful areas for decluttering. Some of the stuff in the tool closet... I didn't even know what that stuff was!

There is more to declutter too... I could spend a bit more time in the tool closet and let go of various old tools and other things that we have no use for. And there is the behind-the-shed space which is also very fruitful.

Oh... and we let go of a bunch of pampas grass plumes! Forgot to even mention those...

I think we will keep doing the decluttering... slowly... over time... it's the small steps that make the biggest difference.

What I Let Go of during Week 4 of the 30 Day Minimalism Game

This is getting super hard. And I'm going to have to bump Day 28 into the next blog post as I didn't quite make the cut-off for writing this post!

Day 22

Today, we have a number of odd things... 3 more aluminium pie plates (from the stove drawer), 1 light-up trident toy, 3 doll clothes, 1 randome piece yellow ribbon, 2 jars lavender bath salts, 2 tiny stockings, 1 zipper plastic bag (not a ziploc), 2 pieces felt, 1 bent piece of wire hanger, 3 empty jars, 2 massage oil containers, 1 glass bread pan.

Day 23

It's getting to the point, where I can't take a group photo of the larger items sooo...

1 picture mat

1 batik wall hanging

1 picture frame broken

1 mitre saw

1 toy ball

1 weird velcro strap

1 purse handle

1 frisbee thingee

2 plastic store hangers

1 duvet and 1 rain jacket

10 pieces of clothing

1 tray

 And yes... that is 23 things. Ugh... getting seriously hard here folks!

Day 24

1 wool blanket - gifting it to a friend.

1 tripod - will try to sell on FB Marketplace

1 bag

1 bag - my Grade 8 sewing project - it's tiny and... it can go.

1 duffel bag

1 office bag

So that is 6 plus the remainder... 1 belt pouch, 1 toy ball, 1 camo scarf, 1 pile black fabric, 1 pile camo fabric, 1 fat cat harness, 1 cat gift box, 5 balls of cat hair from our previous two cats (sniff), 1 pile hazelnuts (they were cat toys), 5 fridge magnets

Day 25

OK... I think this is Day 25! As I took pics, I generally took one with a piece of paper in it that had the day number on it. But such was not the case here. But let's count:

2 over the door racks, 1 puzzle, 1 snowman, 1 tin, 1 donut cushion, 1 bathroom bag, 1 old sheet, 1 plastic container, 1 bag old Advils, 1 empty container, 1 piece of black foam, 1 card, 2 small puzzles, 1 magnetic Story Maker set, 1 wet suite, 1 mermaid tail, 5 stretch bands, 4 craft thingies (cardboard patterns and piles of yarn). Done!

Day 26

For this day, we went out into the garden shed. There's always something in there!

2 lounger chairs (broken)

1 old mat

1 old chair cushion

A kite (going to sell or donate)

1 broken compost bucket

2 balls

1 boating safety kit

1 plastic yogurt container

2 gloves - found one first and the other later (no pic of second one)

2 handle-less tools - ax and hammer

1 broken faucet cover

1 lost wine goblet

1 rope ladder

1 pile old metal wire

1 baggie with old scrubbies

4 old gloves

1 broken plastic tub

2 broken sawhorses

Day 27

Once again, I should have written these out but I'm hoping this adds up to 27!

3 throw pillows, 4 old lotions, 4 write-on fridge magnets, 3 other magnets, 3 rags, 4 cloth napkins, 3 random cutlery pieces, 1 necklace and 2 pieces jewellry (can't see them well in photo).

Alright, that's a wrap!

Day 28

About half way there for collecting Day 28, but will wait until I post Days 29-30 for this one.